Yummy Fast File Transfers

Mac Drag And Drop, Meet Drag And Drop

One of the very first functions Mac and Windows PC users learn is the venerable point and click, then we learn drag and drop. Click and hold a file or folder, then drag it to wherever it needs to go. That’s a time honored way to move something from here to there on your Mac or Windows PC

Except when it doesn’t work. No, it’s not drag and drop that doesn’t work. It’s usually us. We forget where we plan to drop what we’re dragging, or change our minds during the drag, or we realize that the drop location in the Finder requires a little navigation to make visible but we’ve already started the drag process, and besides our fingers have run out of trackpad, or the mouse ran out of desk.

The Mac’s Finder handles drag and drop to almost anywhere better than ever, thanks to multiple tabs, and multiple Finder windows with multiple tabs, but FilePane does a better job by adding specific functions to each drag and drop based upon the type of file being dragged but before it gets dropped. Got that?

Here it is in action.

As you drag an object– text, photo, snippet, whatever– FilePane pops up a small shelf-like window panel called Drop Here. Drop the dragged item and you get options which can be performed on whatever you were dragging.

FilePane’s list of actions which can be assigned to a dragged file are extensive and include crop, rotate, resize, convert, or compress images and photos. Almost everything can be shared from the FilePane panel; email, Facebook, AirDrop, Twitter.

This is where it gets interesting. While drag and drop is simple enough to master, throwing in a bunch of tools, options, and add-on functions can complicate the drag and drop process until you realize all the value this new-fangled drag and drop can add to your workflow.

But there’s a learning curve.

While it’s handy to let a dragged file sit until you’ve prepared or found a location to drag it to, FilePane also counts words for highlighted text, converts regular text documents to PDFs (without opening a word processor or TextEdit), and even create folders and files where you want them.

Here’s the kicker. FilePane isn’t just about the Finder. It works the same way from within most Mac apps. Select text, copy a photo, grab a URL, and edit whatever using FilePane while you’re using Mail, Messages, iPhoto, Safari, or whatever. FilePane adds extra functions that once you’ve tried them you wonder why they’re not in OS X already.

FilePane is nicely done, well integrated into OS X Yosemite and El Capitan and if there’s one complaint it’s that the feature list and functionality don’t match the price. No, FilePane isn’t expensive. It’s a bargain considering what it can do for your workflow and productivity. Plus, there’s a try-before-you-buy option.